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PRICE  TWO  CENTS 


^imnan’s  foreign  ^JHtasimiarg  j^ocicfy 
jifHcifjobtet  Episcopal  (Elptrxlj 
36  ^Bromficlb  Street,  ^Soaton,  (JHaaa- 


II' 


II- 


Mrs.  T.  C.  Doremus 


“  Her  Life  is  Her  Eulogy .” 

<;  ' 

“Yet  speaketh!  By  that  consecrated  life, 

The  single-heart’ed,  noble,  true  and  pure, 
Which,  lifted  far  above  all  worldly  strife, 

Could  all  but  sin  so  patiently  endure. 

O  eloquence!  By" this  she  speaketh  yet, 

For  who  that  knew  and  loved  her  could 
forget?” 

ON  a  bright  and  beautiful  Sabbath  morning  in  the 
month  of  May,  1868,  the  steamer  City  of  Paris 
arrived  in  New  York,  having  among  her  pas¬ 
sengers  a  missionary  and  his  family  returning  from 
India.  Among  the  first  persons  to  board  the 
steamer  was  a  lady  tall  in  figure,  somewhat  bent  in 
form,  with  hair  of  silvery'whiteness,  and  a  face  with 
sweet  and  saintly  expression.  This  was  the  subject 
of  our  sketch,  and  she  was  there  to  welcome  the 
missionary  and  his  family  after  an  absence  of  seven 
years  from  home  and  native  land.  In  our  distant 
home  in  India  we  had  received  many  a  kind  and 
f  encouraging  word  from  her  pen,  and  substantial 
.  aid  for  carrying  on  work  among  the  women,  but  had 
never  looked  upon  her  dear  face  until  that  hour; 
and  to  her  loving  care  we  made  an  unconditional 
.  surrender.  Meeting  the  custom  house  officer  she 
simply  said,  “These  are  my  friends,  missionaries 
from  India,  they  have  nothing  contraband,”  and 
'  passing  out  we  were  put  into  her  carriage  and  driven 
to  the  home  of  our  friends.  What  she  did  for  us 
v  was  only  what  she  had  4one  for  many  other  return¬ 
ing  missionaries. 


3 


It  is  a  very  difficult  matter  to  analyze  the  life  of 
one  you  have  known  and  loved,  particularly  when 
that  life  is  very  symmetrical,  and  complete.  Mrs. 
Doremus’  life  in  any  aspect,  intellectually,  socially 
or  religiously,  is  a  lesson  and  a  treasure  to  the  women 
of  every  country,  for  the  wise  may  be  made  wiser, 
and  the  good  better,  by  considering  it.  There  is 
only  one  solution  of  it.  Her  whole  nature  and  all 
its  possibilities  were  at  the  bidding  of  a  Master 
whom  she  loved  and  in  whose  service  she  was  spent. 

She  was  well  born,  her  parents  being  among  the 
most  honored  families  of  the  city  of  New  York,  and 
members  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  In  her  early 
childhood  they  removed  to  Elizabeth,  N.  J.,  where 
she  grew  up  under  the  training  of  one  of  the  noblest 
of  Christian  mothers,  a  woman  of  saintly  excellence. 
In  1821  she  married  a  Christian  merchant  of  New 
York,  and  returned  to  that  city,  where  she  spent 
the  remainder  of  her  life.  She  was  a  communicant 
of  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church,  but  her  catholic 
spirit  knew  no  dividing  lines. 

Possbily  no  woman  in  our  country  has  left  her 
mark  more  distinctly.  She  was  a  woman  of  strong, 
independent  mind.  With  her,  work  meant  work. 
Her  greatest  happiness  was  in  making  others  happy, 
though  it  often  involved  trouble  to  herself.  She 
would  rather  have  gone  forth  with  Martha  to  meet 
Jesus,  than  to  have  sat  in  the  house  with  Mary. 

Mrs.  Doremus  received  her  first  interest  in  the 
cause  of  foreign  missions,  when,  as  a  child,  her 
mother  would  take  her  to  meetings  held  by  herself 
and  a  few  Christian  friends,  to  pray  for  the  conver¬ 
sion  of  the  world. 

As  interest  in  foregin  mission  work  developed, 
and  organizations  were  formed  in  the  churches,  she 
who  had  learned  to  love  the  work  as  a  cfyild,  threw 
her  heart  and  soul  into  it,  and  it  was  her  delight 
to  serve  the  cause  and  the  missionaries.  As  the 
appliances  for  securing  or  purchasing  ready-made 


4 


clothing  were  not  then  what  they  are  now,  the  ladies 
of  various  congregations  met  together  to  prepare 
outfits  for  missionaries.  Many  of  these  were  made 
in  her  own  home,  the  material  freely  given  and  cut 
out  by  her  own  skilful  fingers.  Then,  as  a  mission¬ 
ary’s  departure  in  those  days  meant  a  long  voyage 
of  months,  sometimes  in  wretchedly  furnished  ships, 
often  has  she  gone  to  Boston,  the  usual  place  of 
embarkation,  and  not  only  fitted  up  the  miserable 
cabins  with  comforts  for  the  voyage,  but  with  her 
own  hands  made  tempting  delicacies  to  sustain  the 
messengers  of  Jesus,  whom,  for  his  sake,  she  took 
into  her  great  heart,  regardless  of  denomination. 

In  1834  the  Rev.  David  Abeel,  returning  from  his 
mission  in  the  East,  had  determined  to  arouse  Chris¬ 
tian  women  to  their  duty  to  rescue  heathen  women 
from  degradation.  He  organized  in  England  the 
“Society  for  Promoting  Female  Education  in  the 
East,”  from  which  the  Union  Society  took  its  model. 
He  attempted  to  accomplish  a  similar  work  in  this 
country.  Mrs.  Doremus  entered  into  the  plans 
with  great  zeal,  but  the  opposition  of  existing  Boards 
made  it  expedient  to  postpone  the  organization. 
The  time  had  not  come.  A  quarter  of  a  century 
passed,  and  the  way  was  being  prepared  for  some 
connected  action.  About  1859  or  ’60,  Mrs.  Mason, 
a  missionary  of  Burma,  visited  this  country  and  told 
the  story  of  the  woes  and  wants  of  heathen  women, 
anxious  to  awaken  an  interest  among  American 
women  in  their  behalf.  These  appeals  resulted  in 
the  formation  of  the  Woman’s  Union  Missionary 
Society.  This  Society  embraced  all  evangelical 
denominations  of  Christian  women,  and  it  worked 
independently  of  church  Boards.  Its  direct  object 
was  to  form  an  agency  whereby  unmarried  women 
might  be  sent  abroad  as  teachers  and  missionaries, 
to  enter  the  homes  and  carry  the  gospel  to  those 
who  could  not  receive  it  in  any  other  way. 

This  undertaking  was  a  great  experiment,  and  it 


5 


9 


needed  the  wisest  and  most  judicious  administration. 
The  women  of  the  churches  were  to  be  brought 
together,  collections  made  so  as  not  to  interfere  with 
existing  organizations,  general  missionary  intelli¬ 
gence  disseminated,  and  a  missionary  enthusiasm 
kindled  all  over  the  country,  if  the  venture  was  to  be 
successful. 

Naturally  Mrs.  Doremus  was  elected  the  president 
of  this  organization.  She  threw  her  life  and  soul 
into  the  work.  She  was  ubiquitous.  With  personal 
presence  and  with  pen  she  inspired  everyone  with 
her  own  zeal  and  devotion.  Her  beautiful  home  in 
New  York  was  the  headquarters  of  the  mission. 
Every  missionary  appointed  was  her  special  charge. 
She  not  only  wlecomed  them  to  her  home  but  when 
strangers  to  the  city,  gave  them  every  opportunity  of 
seeing  places  and  people  of  note.  Then  when  they 
left  or  returned  to  this  country,  how  tender  was  her 
parting  or  welcome!  How  many  touching  tokens 
of  personal  self-denial  she  surrounded  them  with! 
In  her  correspondence  with  them,  as  far  as  possible, 
she  carefully  avoided  business  details,  but  wrote  as 
a  mother  might  have  done.  She  would  glean  items 
of  daily  interest  and  sketches  of  lectures  to  send 
them,  that  something  fresh  from  their  native  land 
might  give  variety  to  their  lives  of  arduous  toil.  No 
event  of  public  importance  transpired  that  she  did 
not  send  copies  of  newspapers  to  all  the  stations. 
Then  she  was  always  on  the  outlook  for  inspiring 
books,  which  she  sent  to  them  by  mail,  feeling  that 
all  that  cheered  their  lives  would  strengthen  them 
for  duty. 

For  fifteen  years  she  held  the  position  of  president 
of  the  society.  She  loved  it,  nurtured  it,  prayed  for 
it,  and  saw  it  grow  and  develop,  and  saw  also  one 
denomination  after  another  get  strength  sufficient  to 
organize  independently. 

It  was  during  the  early  history  of  this  society  that 
Mrs.  Doremus  became  the  link  connecting  the  Union 


6 


* 


Missionary  Society  with  our  Methodist  women.  In 
the  early  history  of  our  Methodist  Mission  in  North 
India,  work  was  attempted  among  women  and  girls, 
but  the  need  was  felt  of  special  help  to  prosecute 
the  work  more  fully.  Soon  after  the  writer  arrived 
in  India,  a  letter  was  received  from  Mrs.  Doremus 
stating  the  fact  of  the  organization  of  the  Woman’s 
Union  Missionary  Society,  and  inclosing  a  check  for 
fifty  dollars  for  the  employment  of  some  native 
Christian  woman  as  Bible  reader  or  teacher.  This 
was  the  first  donation  made  for  distinctive  woman  s 
work  in  the  North  India  Conference. 

This  remittance  came  regularly  each  year,  and 
when  in  1867,  the  writer  left  India,  it  was  made  over 
to  one  of  our  ladies  in  Lucknow,  and  aided  greatly 
in  carrying  on  work  in  that  important  but  bigoted 
city. 

The  work  she  accomplished  in  New  York  City  was 
enough  to  engage  the  time  and  thoughts  of  any  ordi¬ 
nary  woman.  She  began  a  Sabbath  service  in  the 
city  prison,  from  which  was  developed  the  Women’s 
Prison  Association  with  which  she  was  connected 
for  more  than  thirty  years.  For  thirty-six  years 
she  was  a  manager  of  the  City  and  Tract  Mission 
Society,  and  for  twenty-eight  years  a  manager  of 
the  City  Bible  Society.  She  was  one  of  the  founders 
of  the  House  and  School  of  Industry,  and  for  twenty- 
three  years  was  connected  with  the  “Nursery  and 
Child’s  Hospital,’’  which  she  aided  in  founding. 

In  1835  she  bent  her  energies  to  the  establishment 
of  the  Woman’s  Hospital,  the  first  institution  of  this 
character  in  the  world.  To  this  she  devoted  time 
and  personal  sacrifice,  went  repeatedly  to  Albany  to 
secure  its  charter  and  state  appropriation,  and  col¬ 
lected  large  sums  for  it.  She  visited  the  patients 
regularly,  cheered  them  up,  gave  them  spiritual 
comfort,  and  followed  them  with  her  ministrations 
after  they  left.  She  assisted  in  organizing  also  the 
Presbyterian  Home  for  Aged  Women.  During 


7 


our  Civil  War  she  was  most  active  in  work  for  our 
soldiers. 

Not  often  is  a  Christian  woman  permitted  to  see 
the  germs  planted  in  faith  grow  up  within  a  lifetime, 
into  overshadowing  institutions  of  healing  for  soul 
and  body,  but  many  such  owe  their  origin  to  her 
-patient  labors  and  far-reaching  influence.  Winning 
by  her  life  the  highest  confidence  of  the  community, 
means  and  facilities  to  a  remarkable  extent  were 
placed  at  her  disposal,  and  in  this  way  her  efficiency 
was  multiplied  a  hundred-fold. 

If  we  turn  from  her  activities  in  mission  work  to 
the  sacred  sanctuary  of  her  home,  we  find  the  devo¬ 
ted  wife  and  mother.  Home  was  the  scene  of  her 
tender  and  loving  care.  The  mind  that  could  have 
ruled  a  kingdom  gave  its  best  energies  to  her  family. 
She  lived  with  her  children,  painting,  designing  her 
own  pattern  for  embroidery,  modeling  in  wax,  and 
excelling  in  all  the  accomplishments  of  her  day. 
Nothing  was  ever  allowed  to  interfere  with  her  high 
and  holy  home  duties.  To  her  own  family  of  nine 
children  she  was  all  that  a  mother  could  be.  In 
addition  to  these  she  adopted  children  into  her  heart 
and  home,  caring  for  them,  and  securing  means  for 
their  education. 

Much  of  what  she  accomplished  was  due  to  the 
very  rare  combination  of  her  endowments.  She  had 
power  to  lay  great  plans  and  organize  grand  move¬ 
ments,  and  withal,  a  marvellous  memory  for  details. 
Nothing  was  too  trivial  to  be  overlooked  if  it  would 
add  perfection  to  the  organization.  To  her  latest 
day  her  memory  was  true  to  its  trust  for  dates  and 
incidents,  every  one  of  which  was  accurate  and  thor¬ 
oughly  at  her  command,  and  all  used  for  the  benefit 
and  comfort  of  others.  From  the  very  beginning 
of  her  Christian  life  her  many  beautiful  gifts,  her 
rare  intelligence,  her  dauntless  will,  were  all  conse¬ 
crated  to  the  service  of  her  Redeemer,  and  thence¬ 
forth  transfused  by  the  Spirit,  were  quickened  into 
ever  brightening  emanations  of  loving  activities. 


8 


But  there  came  a  time  when  these  ceaseless  loving 
ministrations  must  cease,  when  the  busy  brain  must 
stop,  when  she  should  hear  the  summons,  “It  is 
enough,  Come  up  higher.”  Prostrated  by  an  acci¬ 
dent  in  her  own  home,  in  January,  1877,  she  suffered 
for  a  week,  and  then  was  translated  to  see  Him  of 
whom  Moses,  in  the  law  and  prophets,  did  write — 
the  King  Immortal,  the  one  whom  she  loved  and 
for  whom  she  had  toiled. 

There  was  sorrow  in  hearts,  and  homes,  and  in 
churches,  as  the  news  of  her  death  spread,  not  only  in 
this  country,  but  throughout  the  world,  for  there  was 
scarcely  a  mission  field  where  she  was  not  known  and 
lovingly  remembered.  Missionaries  felt  that  they 
has  lost  one  of  their  best  friends.  The  Rev.  Dr. 
Tyng  said  in  his  address  at  her  funeral,  “Mrs.  Dore- 
mus  gave  the  whole  of  herself  to  the  Lord,  the  whole 
of  herself  to  the  church,  the  whole  of  herself  to  every 
suffering  heart  she  met,  and  yet  the  whole  of  herself 
to  home  and  children.” 

The  Union  Missionary  Society  has  perpetuated 
her  name  in  Calcutta,  India,  by  calling  their  Home 
the  “Doremus  Home,”  but  she  lives  to-day  not 
only  in  the  hearts  of  thousands  of  Christian  peo¬ 
ple  in  this  land,  but  in  all  lands,  her  name  is  as 
ointment  poured  forth. 

Her  daily  prayer  was,  “Lord,  what  wilt  Thou 
have  me  to  do?”  We  can  offer  the  same,  and 
though  not  having  the  diversity  of  gifts  that  this 
consecrated  woman  had,  yet  we  can  do  our  part 
in  helping  the  on-coming  of  our  Redeemer’s  King¬ 
dom. 


SKETCH 


OF 


Mrs.  T.  G.  Doremus 


BY 


Mrs.  J.  T.  Gracey. 


PRICE  THREE  CENTS. 


PUBLISHED  BY 

WOMAN’S  FOREIGN  MISSIONARY  SOCIETY 

OF  THE 

METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH, 

36  Bromfield  St.,  Boston,  Mass. 


J.  W.  Hamilton,  Printer,  102  High  Street  Boston,  Mass. 


MRS.  T.  C.  DOREMUS. 


“  Her  life  is  her  eulogy .” 


“Yet  speaketh!  By  that  consecrated  life. 

The  single-hearted,  noble,  true  and  pure, 

Which.,  lifted  far  above  all  worldly  strife, 

Could  all  but  sin  so  patiently  endure. 

O  Eloquence!  By  this  she  speaketh  yet, 

For  who  that  knew  and  loved  her  could  forget?  ” 

0N  a  bright  and  beautiful  Sabbath  morning  in  the 
month  of  May,  1868,  the  steamer  City  of  Paris 
arrived  in  New  York,  having  among  her  passen¬ 
gers  a  missionary  and  his  family  returning  from  India. 
Among  the  first  persons  to  board  the  steamer  was  a 
lady  tall  in  figure,  somewhat  bent  in  form,  with  hair  of 
silvery  whiteness,  and  a  face  with  sweet  and  saintly 
expression.  This  was  the  subject  of  our  sketch,  and 
she  was  there  to  welcome  the  missionary  and  his 
family  after  an  absence  of  seven  years  from  home 
and  native  land.  In  our  distant  home  in  India  we  had 
received  many  a  kind  and  encouraging  word  from  her 
pen,  and  substantial  aid  for  carrying  on  work  among 
the  women,  but  had  never  looked  upon  her  dear  face 
until  that  hour;  and  to  her  loving  care  we  made  an 
unconditional  surrender.  Passing  the  custom  house 


2 


officer  she  simply  said  “  these  are  my  friends,  mission¬ 
aries  from  India,  they  have  nothing  contraband,”  and 
passing  out  we  were  put  into  her  carriage  and  driven 
to  the  home  of  our  friends.  What  she  did  for  us,  was 
only  what  she  had  done  for  many  other  returning 
missionaries. 

It  is  a  very  difficult  matter  to  analyze  the  life  of 
one  you  have  known  and  loved,  particularly  when  that 
life  is  very  symmetrical,  and  complete.  Mrs.  Doremus’ 
life  in  any  aspect,  intellectually,  socially  or  religiously, 
is  a  lesson  and  a  treasure  to  the  women  of  every 
country,  for  the  wise  may  be  made  wiser,  and  the 
good  better,  by  considering  it.  There  is  only  one 
solution  of  it.  Her  whole  nature  and  all  its  possi¬ 
bilities  were  at  the  bidding  of  a  Master  whom  she 
loved  and  in  whose  service  she  was  spent. 

She  was  born  well.  Her  parents  were  among  the  most 
honored  families  of  the  city  of  New  York,  and  mem¬ 
bers  of  the  Presbyterian  church.  In  her  early  child¬ 
hood  they  removed  to  Elizabeth,  N.  J.,  where  she 
grew  up  under  the  training  of  one  of  the  noblest  of 
Christian  mothers,  a  woman  of  saintly  excellence. 
In  1821  she  married  a  Christian  merchant  of  New 
York,  and  returned  to  that  city,  where  she  spent  the  re¬ 
mainder  of  her  life.  She  was  a  communicant  of  the 
Reformed  Dutch  Church,  but  her  catholic  spirit  knew 
no  dividing  lines.  She  belonged  to  all  churches,  to 
all  Christians.  She  was  in  the  truest  sense  cultivated, 
having  a  culture  that  had  its  springs  not  only  in 
family  and  education,  but  in  a  full  and  pure  surrender 
of  her  life  to  Christ  and  his  work.  She  was  rooted 
and  grounded  in  faith;  she  searched  and  found  the 


3 


Rock  and  her  feet  were  firmly  placed  upon  it,  and 
her  foundations  were  sure  as  the  everlasting  hills. 
Her  benevolence  was  as  broad  as  her  sympathies,  not 
limited  to  rank  or  intelligence,  creed  or  character. 
She  loved  all  and  helped  all.  She  did  not  live  in 
herself,  or  for  herself.  God  and  his  children,  their 
sorrows  and  their  burdens,  and  how  she  might  help  lift 
them,  filled  her  soul. 

Possibly  no  woman  in  our  country  has  left  her  mark 
more  distinctly.  She  was  a  woman  of  strong  inde¬ 
pendent  mind.  With  her,  work  meant  work.  Her 
greatest  happiness  was  in  making  others  happy,  though 
it  often  involved  trouble  to  herself.  She  would  rather 
have  gone  forth  with  Martha  to  meet  Jesus,  than  to 
have  sat  in  the  house  with  Mary. 

It  is  her  connection  with  foreign  missions  with  which 
we  are  more  particularly  interested.  Mrs.  Doremus 
received  her  first  interest  in  the  cause  of  foreign 
missions,  when,  as  a  child,  her  mother  would  take  her 
to  meetings  held  by  herself  and  a  few  Christian  friends, 
to  pray  for  the  conversion  of  the  world. 

She  was,  without  doubt,  one  of  the  most  intelligent 
women  of  her  time,  on  missionary  subjects.  As  inter¬ 
est  in  foreign  mission  work  developed,  and  organiza¬ 
tions  were  formed  in  the  churches,  she  who  had 
learned  to  love  the  work  as  a  child,  threw  her  heart  and 
soul  into  it,  and  it  was  her  delight  to  serve  the  cause  and 
the  missionaries.  As  the  appliances  for  securing  or 
purchasing  ready-made  clothing  were  not  then  what 
they  are  now,  the  ladies  of  various  congregations  met 
together  to  prepare  outfits  for  missionaries.  Many  of 
these  were  prepared  in  her  own  home,  the  material 


4 


freely  given  and  cut  out  by  her  own  skilful  fingers. 
Then,  as  a  missionary’s  departure  in  those  days  meant 
a  long  voyage  of  months,  sometimes  in  wretchedly 
furnished  ships,  often  has  she  gone  to  Boston,  the 
usual  place  of  embarkation,  and  not  only  fitted  up  the 
miserable  cabins  with  comforts  for  the  voyage,  but 
with  her  own  hands  made  tempting  delicacies  to  sustain 
the  messengers  of  Jesus,  whom,  for  His  sake,  she  took 
into  her  great  heart,  regardless  of  denomination. 

ORGANIZED  WORK  FOR  FOREIGN  MISSIONS. 

Although  Mrs.  Doremus  was  over  fifty-three  years  a 
communicant  of  the  South  Reformed  Dutch  Church, 
yet  her  broad  catholic  spirit  knew  no  sect,  no  dividing 
lines.  They  were  all  melted  away  in  the  light  of  the 
truth  she  loved  and  lived  by  —  the  oneness  of  all 
believers  in  Christ. 

In  1828  the  sympathies  of  our  country  were  stirred 
for  Greece,  so  outraged  by  the  Turks.  Mrs.  Doremus, 
hearing  of  the  necessities  of  the  Greek  ladies,  with 
several  friends  organized  a  band  to  work  for  their 
relief.  Dr.  Jonas  King  was  invited  to  go  to  Athens 
as  their  representative,  taking  large  supplies. 

In  1835  s^e  became  deeply  interested  in  Mde. 
Feller’s  Baptist  Mission  at  Grande  Ligne, 
Canada.  In  aid  of  this,  a  Society  was  formed  in 
New  York,  of  which  she  was  President.  Many  were 
the  boxes  of  school  apparatus,  delicacies,  and  useful 
stores  which  were  sent  regularly  to  cheer  the  hearts  of 
those  in  that  isolated  and  needy  mission. 


5 


In  1834,  the  Rev.  David  Abeel,  returning  from  his 
mission  in  the  East,  had  determined  to  arouse  Chris¬ 
tian  women  to  their  duty  to  rescue  heathen  women  from 
degradation.  He  organized  in  England  the  “Society 
for  Promoting  Female  Education  in  the  East,”  from 
which  the  Union  Society  has  taken  its  model.  He 
attempted  to  accomplish  a  similar  work  in  this  country. 
Mrs.  Doremus  entered  into  the  plans  with  great  zeal, 
but  the  opposition  of  existing  Boards  made  it 
expedient  to  postpone  the  organization.  The  time 
had  not  come.  The  women  of  the  churches  were  not 
ready  for  it.  Sufficient  knowledge  of  the  condition 
of  Eastern  woman  had  not  reached  the  Christian 
women  of  America  for  them  to  have  their  hearts 
touched  and  aroused  to  action.  A  quarter  of  a  cen¬ 
tury  passed,  and  the  way  was  being  prepared  for 
some  connected  action.  Missionaries  plead  for  help. 
Influences  had  been  exerted  by  missionaries  abroad, 
and  by  those  returning  home.  About  1859  or  ’60, 
Mrs.  Mason,  a  missionary  of  Burmah,  visited  this 
country  and  told  the  story  of  the  woes  and  wants  of 
heathen  women,  anxious  to  awaken  an  interest  among 
American  women  in  their  behalf.  These  appeals 
resulted  in  the  formation  of  the  “  Woman's  Union 
Missionary  Society This  Society  embraced  all 
evangelical  denominations  of  Christian  women,  and  it 
worked  independently  of  Church  Boards.  Its  direct 
object  was  to  form  an  agency  whereby  unmarried 
women  might  be  sent  abroad  as  teachers  and  mission¬ 
aries,  to  enter  the  homes  and  carry  the  gospel  to  those 
who  could  not  receive  it  in  any  other  way. 


6 


This  undertaking  was  a  great  experiment,  and  it 
needed  the  wisest  and  most  judicious  administration. 
The  women  of  the  churches  were  to  be  brought 
together,  collections  made  so  as  not  to  interfere  with 
existing  organizations,  general  missionary  intelligence 
disseminated,  and  a  missionary  enthusiasm  kindled 
all  over  the  country,  if  the  venture  was  to  be  successful. 

Naturally  and  wisely  Mrs.  Doremus  was  elected 
the  President  of  this  organization.  She  threw  her  life 
and  soul  into  the  work.  She  was  ubiquitous.  With 
personal  presence  and  with  pen  she  inspired  everyone 
with  her  own  zeal  and  devotion.  Her  beautiful  home 
in  New  York  was  the  headquarters  of  the  Mission. 
Every  missionary  appointed  was  her  special  charge. 
She  not  only  welcomed  them  to  her  home  but  when 
strangers  to  the  city,  gave  them  every  opportunity  of 
seeing  places  and  people  of  note.  Then  when  they 
left  or  returned  to  this  country,  how  tender  was  her 
parting  or  welcome !  How  many  touching  tokens 
of  personal  self-denial  she  surrounded  them  with ! 
In  her  correspondence  with  them,  as  far  as  possible, 
she  carefully  avoided  business  details,  but  wrote  as 
a  mother  might  have  done.  She  would  glean  items 
of  daily  interest  and  sketches  of  lectures  to  send 
them,  that  something  fresh  from  their  native  land 
might  give  variety  to  their  lives  of  arduous  toil.  No 
event  of  public  importance  transpired  that  she  did  not 
send  copies  of  newspapers  to  all  the  stations.  Then 
she  was  always  on  the  outlook  for  inspiring  books, 
which  she  sent  to  them  by  mail,  feeling  that  all 
that  cheered  their  lives  would  strengthen  them  for 
duty. 


7 


For  fifteen  years  she  held  the  position  of  President 
of  the  Society.  She  loved  it,  nurtured  it,  prayed  for 
it,  and  saw  it  grow  and  develop,  and  saw  also  one 
denomination  after  another  get  strength  sufficient  to 
leave  the  Mother  Branch  and  organize  independently. 
She  saw  this  organization  started,  but  she  could  not 
see  the  grand  results,  for  after  thirty  years  the  united 
contributions  of  the  various  woman’s  societies  of 
America  amounted  last  year  to  the  magnificent  sum  of 
one  and  one-half  millions  of  dollars. 

It  was  during  the  early  history  of  this  society  that 
Mrs.  D.  became  the  link  connecting  the  Union  Society 
with  our  Methodist  women.  In  the  early  history  of 
our  Methodist  Mission  in  North  India,  work  was 
attempted  among  women  and  girls,  but  the  need  was 
felt  of  special  help  to  prosecute  the  work  more  fully. 
Soon  after  the  writer  arrived  in  India,  a  letter  was  re¬ 
ceived  from  Mrs.  Doremus  stating  the  fact  of  the  organ¬ 
ization  of  the  Woman’s  Union  Missionary  Society,  and 
inclosing  a  check  for  fifty  dollars  for  the  employment 
of  some  native  Christian  woman  as  Bible  reader  or 
teacher.  This  was  the  first  donation  made  for  dis¬ 
tinctive  woman's  work  in  the  North  India  Confer¬ 
ence. 

There  lies  before  me  a  note,  penned  by  the  hand 
of  Mrs.  Doremus,  written  in  1864,  in  which  she 
inclosed  the  annual  remittance.  The  kindly  sympa¬ 
thising  word  always  accompanied  the  money.  In  this 
note  she  says :  — 

“  You  have  my  warmest  love  and  sympathy  in  your 
missionary  work  *  *  *  I  inclose  the  check  and  wish 
it  were  ten  times  more.” 


8 


This  remittance  came  regularly  each  year,  and  when 
in  1867  the  writer  left  India,  it  was  made  over  to  one 
of  our  ladies  in  Lucknow,  and  aided  greatly  in  carrying 
on  work  in  that  important  but  bigoted  city.  This  was 
the  beginning  of  a  work  in  India  that  now  receives 
annually  an  appropriation  of  about  seventy  thousand 
dollars. 

The  work  she  accomplished  in  New  York  city  was 
enough  to  engage  the  time  and  thoughts  of  any  ordin¬ 
ary  woman.  Nearly  fifty  years  ago  she  began  a 
Sabbath  service  in  the  city  prison,  from  which 
was  developed  the  “  Women's  Prison  Association"  with 
which  she  was  connected  for  more  than  thirty  years. 
For  thirty-six  years  she  was  a  manager  of  the  City  and 
Tract  Mission  Society,  and  for  twenty-eight  years  a 
manager  of  the  City  Bible  Society.  She  was  one  of  the 
founders  of  the  “  House  and  School  of  Industry,”  and 
for  twenty-three  years  was  connected  with  the 
*'  Nursery  and  Child’s  Hospital,”  which  she  aided  in 
founding. 

In  1835  s^e  beid  her  energies  to  the  establishment 
of  the  “  Woman’s  Hospital,”  the  first  institution  of  this 
character  in  the  world.  To  this  she  devoted  time  and 
personal  sacrifice,  went  repeatedly  to  Albany  to  secure 
its  charter  and  State  appropriation,  and  collected 
large  sums  for  it.  She  visited  the  patients  regularly, 
cheered  them  up,  gave  them  spiritual  comfort,  and 
followed  them  with  her  ministrations  after  they  left. 
She  assisted  in  organizing  also  the  “Presbyterian 
Home  for  Aged  Women.”  During  our  civil  war  she 
was  most  active  in  work  for  our  soldiers. 


9 


Not  often  is  a  Christian  woman  permitted  to  see  the 
germs  planted  in  faith  grow  up  within  a  lifetime,  into 
overshadowing  institutions  of  healing  for  soul  and 
body,  but  many  such  owe  their  origin  to  her  patient 
labors  and  far-reaching  influence.  Winning  by  her 
life  the  highest  confidence  of  the  community,  means 
and  facilities  to  a  remarkable  extent  were  placed  at  her 
disposal,  and  in  this  way  her  efficiency  was  multiplied 
a  hundred-fold. 

If  we  turn  from  her  activities  in  mission  work  to  the 
sacred  sanctuary  of  her  home,  we  find  the  devoted  wife 
and  mother.  Home  was  the  scene  of  her  tender  and 
loving  care.  The  mind  that  could  have  ruled  a  king¬ 
dom  gave  its  best  energies  to  her  family.  She  lived 
with  her  children,  painting,  designing  her  own  patterns 
for  embroidery,  modeling  in  wax,  and  excelling  in 
all  the  accomplishments  of  her  day.  Nothing  was 
ever  allowed  to  interfere  with  her  high  and  holy  home 
duties.  To  her  own  family  of  nine  children  she  was  all 
that  a  mother  could  be.  In  addition  to  these  she 
adopted  children  into  her  heart  and  home,  caring  for 
them,  and  securing  means  for  their  education. 

Much  of  what  she  accomplished  was  due  to  the 
very  rare  combination  of  her  endowments.  She  had 
power  to  lay  great  plans  and  organize  grand  move¬ 
ments,  and  withal,  a  marvellous  memory  for  details. 
Nothing  was  too  trivial  to  be  overlooked  if  it  would 
add  perfection  to  the  organization.  To  her  latest  day 
her  memory  was  true  to  its  trust  for  dates  and  inci¬ 
dents,  every  one  of  which  was  accurate  and  thoroughly 
at  her  command,  and  all  used  for  the  benefit  and 
comfort  of  others.  From  the  very  beginning  of  her 


IO 


Christian  life  her  many  beautiful  gifts,  her  rare  intelli¬ 
gence,  her  dauntless  will,  were  all  consecrated  to  the 
service  of  her  Redeemer,  and  thenceforth  transfused 
by  His  Spirit,  were  quickened  into  ever  brightening 
emanations  of  loving  activities. 


But  there  came  a  time  when  these  ceaseless  loving 
ministrations  must  cease,  when  the  busy  brain  must 
stop,  when  she  should  hear  the  summons,  “It  is 
enough,  Come  up  higher.”  Prostrated  by  an  accident 
in  her  own  home,  in  January,  1877,  she  suffered  for  a 
week,  and  then  was  translated  to  see  Him  of  whom 
Moses,  in  the  law  and  prophets,  did  write  —  the 
King  Immortal,  the  one  whom  she  loved  and  for  whom 
she  had  toiled. 

There  was  sorrow  in  hearts,  and  homes,  and  in 
churches,  as  the  news  of  her  death  spread,  not  only  in 
this  country,  but  throughout  the  world,  for  there  was 
scarcely  a  Mission  field  where  she  was  not  known  and 
lovingly  remembered.  Missionaries  felt  that  they  had 
lost  one  of  their  best  friends.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Tyng 
said  in  his  address  at  her  funeral,  “Mrs.  Doremus 
gave  the  whole  of  herself  to  the  Lord,  the  whole  of 
herself  to  the  church,  the  whole  of  herself  to  every 
suffering  heart  she  met,  and  yet  the  whole  of  herself  to 
home  and  children.” 

Dr.  Prime  said,  “  I  never  felt  the  power  of  good¬ 
ness,  as  1  have  felt  it  exemplified  in  the  walk  and  life 
of  that  noble  woman.  I  have  the  memoirs  in  my 


library  of  nearly  three  thousand  women,  in  dictionaries, 
encyclopaedias,  and  separate  volumes,  distinguished 
in  many  ages  for  deeds  that  have  made  their  names 
illustrious  in  the  annals  of  time.  Among  them  there 
is  not  one,  no  not  one,  whose  record  is  more  blight 
and  beautiful  in  the  light  of  Heaven  than  hers.  I 
never  found  in  marble  or  on  canvass,  in  history,  or  in 
poetry,  one  that  embodied  the  idea  of  usefulness  so 
perfectly  as  it  was  presented  in  the  life  work  of  this 
sainted  woman,” 

Dr.  Ormiston  said,  “  It  seems  to  me  that  it  pleased 
God  to  give  her  personally  the  choicest  gifts,  and 
rarest  graces  that  she  might  show  to  what  an  altitude 
of  beauty,  womanhood  in  Christ  can  rise  and  manifest 
the  perfection  of  Christian  service,  which  was  triumph¬ 
ant  to  the  end.  ” 

Resolutions  were  passed  by  various  Missionary  and 
other  societies,  but  none  were  more  hearty  and 
appreciative  than  the  following,  adopted  by  the  General 
Executive  Committee  of  the  Woman’s  Foreign  Mis¬ 
sionary  Society  of  the  Meth.  Ep.  Church. 

Resolved ,  That  the  Woman’s  Foreign  Missionary 
Society  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  would 
hereby  pay  an  affectionate  and  reverential  tribute  to 
the  memory  of  Mrs.T.  C.  Doremus,  known  and  honored 
not  only  as  the  originator  of  the  Woman’s  Union 
Missionary  Society  in  this  country,  but  as  one  of  the 
most  beautiful  specimens  of  Christian  womanhood  and 
intense  devotion  to  Christian  work  that  has  adorned 
the  century,  her  name  being  as  ointment  poured  forth, 
filling  all  churches  and  all  lands  with  its  perfume.” 


12 


The  Union  Missionary  Society  has  perpetuated  her 
name  in  Calcutta,  India,  by  calling  their  Home  the 
“Doremus  Home,”  but  she  lives  to-day  not  only  in 
the  hearts  of  thousands  of  Christian  people  in  this  land, 
but  in  all  lands,  her  name  is  as  ointment  poured  forth. 

Her  daily  prayer  was,  “  Lord,  what  wilt  Thou  have 
me  to  do?”  We  can  offer  the  same,  and  though  not 
having  the  diversity  of  gifts  that  this  consecrated 
woman  had,  yet  we  can  do  our  part  in  helping  the 
on-coming  of  our  Redeemer’s  Kingdom. 


Woman’s  Foreign  Missionary  Society,  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 


